A senior city official in Teocaltiche, Jalisco, was shot and killed Monday evening while dining at a seafood restaurant, as violence continues to grip western Mexico.
Jose Luis Pereira, a high-ranking member of Teocaltiche’s local government, was attacked around 5:00 p.m., according to the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office. Responding officers and medical personnel found Pereira deceased at the scene.
The killing comes as Jalisco, a hotspot for cartel violence, reels from a wave of brutal attacks targeting public officials and civilians alike. Just days ago, a mother searching for her missing relatives and her son were murdered in the state. Earlier this month, Jalisco’s municipal police chief was also gunned down.
In March, violence spilled into neighboring Guanajuato state when a lawyer and operator of a local news Facebook page was killed in what prosecutors described as a “crime against freedom of expression.”
Jalisco has been plagued by cartel activity for years, particularly by the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which was declared a terrorist organization by former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2024. The state leads Mexico’s grim statistics on missing persons, with over 15,000 cases recorded.
Corruption and infiltration of local police forces by criminal organizations have further fueled unrest. In February, the remains of four Teocaltiche police officers were found dismembered along a roadside, after eight officers and a driver vanished while en route to Guadalajara. Following those disappearances, the state government seized control of the Teocaltiche police department, citing alleged gang infiltration.
Political figures across Mexico have increasingly become targets for assassination, as cartels seek to consolidate power at local levels through intimidation, extortion, and violence.
In December 2024, a congressman from Mexico’s ruling coalition was shot dead in Veracruz.
Two months earlier, a mayor was murdered and decapitated in Guerrero, with a former prosecutor later arrested in connection to the crime.
The bloodshed escalated further in June 2024 when multiple local officials, including a mayor and a councilwoman, were gunned down within days of each other in Guerrero and Jalisco. The violence coincided with Claudia Sheinbaum’s historic presidential win.
Earlier in March 2024, another mayor was shot dead at a restaurant in Morelia, Michoacán, in front of his 14 year old son, who survived the attack.
Mexico continues to grapple with staggering levels of violence linked to organized crime. Since 2006, nearly 480,000 people have been murdered nationwide, and more than 124,000 individuals remain officially listed as missing.
Authorities have not yet identified suspects in Pereira’s killing. The investigation remains ongoing.
